THE SPARROW TRIBE AND ITS KEN 103 



The unobtrusive Towhee, Chewink, Ground Robin, 

 Joree, or Ground Bunting, as this common bird is var- 

 iously called, is not infrequently mistaken for a robin, be- 

 cause of the reddish chestnut on its under parts. Careful 

 observation, however, shows important distinctions. It is 

 rather smaller and darker in color; its carriage and form are 

 not those of a robin, but of the finch; it hops more ener- 

 getically and precisely, like a mechanical toy. The female 

 is smaller still, and has an olive tiat in her brown back. 

 Her eggs are inconspicuous in color, dirty white speckled 

 with brown, and laid in a sunken nest on the ground. Dead 

 leaves and twigs abound, and form, as the anxious mother 

 fondly hopes, a safe hiding place for her brood. Such 

 careful concealment, however, brings peril, for the most 

 cautious bird-lover may, and sometimes does, inadver- 

 tently set his foot on the hidden nest. 



Because he was hatched in a ground nest and loves to 

 scratch about on the ground for insects, making the dead 

 leaves and earth rubbish fly like any barn-yard fowl, the 

 towhee is very often called the ground robin. Che-wink, or 

 tow-hee comes the brisk caU from wherever the busy bunting 

 is foraging. The chickadee, whippoorwill, phoebe, pewee 

 and killdeer also tell you their names, but this bird an- 

 nounces himself by two so you need make no mistake. 



Rarely does he leave the ground except to sing his love- 

 song. Then, mounting no higher than a bush or low 

 branch, he entrances his sweetheart, if not the human 

 critic, with a song to which Ernest Thompson Seton sup- 

 plies the well-fitted words: Chuck-burr, pill-a vdll-a- 

 will-a. 



The white feathers on the towhee's short, rounded wings 

 and on the sides of his tail are conspicuous signals, as he 



